This invention relates to fire extinguishing sprinklers and, more particularly, to a new and improved sprinkler especially adapted to respond quickly to elevated temperature conditions indicative of a fire.
Sprinker systems are widely used for automatic fire protection in residential, commercial and public buildings. Heretofore, many sprinklers have been made with a frame structure for holding a valve member in the closed position which has a temperature-responsive element located within the frame structure. In order to expose the temperature-responsive element to ambient conditions, such sprinklers must be mounted so that the entire frame structure, with a deflector affixed at its outer end, projects downwardly from the ceiling. While some sprinklers have been designed with a temperature-sensitive element at their outer ends, the valve release mechanism in such sprinklers has been complex and expensive.